Beschrijving
Here for sale is my fantastic Toyota Sera 1. 5 coupe, what a car and my dream car from when I first saw one in the early 1990s.
I bought this Sera, as she had the best body I’ve ever seen on one of these, I had a full bumper off body re-spray in the original Dark Grey Mica 188.
She was to be my forever car, unfortunately my business has taken a downturn and I’m selling everything I can to keep it going through this rough spot. I also have no time to put the effort in this lovely car needs.
Okay firstly the obvious stuff:
This is a 1991 “J” registered 1. 5L Toyota Sera, automatic transmission, imported in the early 2000s. She is MOT’d until April 2023 and has only minor advisories. She is the model with central locking and an alarm.
She’s completely unmodified apart from some Wolfrace wheels (which I’m not too keen on but others seem to love) and an uprated stainless exhaust (very throaty).
She’s covered around 90, 000 miles (150, 000kms), this will change as I use her on the weekends, the mileage won’t change by much as I just pop around the local countryside in her.
The body is fantastic and it has had a full respray. The problem is with the engine, I'll go into more detail in the mechanical section but basically there is a cooling problem, this could be the radiator and ancillaries or the gaskets. I've bought both a new radiator and the gasket kit to be safe, belt and braces is better with this sort of car.
I'm not worried as they are a standard Toyota Starlet engine so easy for any mechanic to work on but engines are not my thing at all.
I would advise that she is trailored away rather than driven, if the gaskets have gone this would damage the engine. The Good Stuff
The body is immaculate, “A++”, absolutely fantastic, blemish, scratch, rust free and just superb, the new grey paintwork gleams in the sun like it is just out of the showroom and when it rains it looks even better with the water slipping off the fantastic re-sprayed panels. The car sits on low profile Wolfrace wheels and practically new tyres.
The Bad Stuff
The glass is pretty near perfect but the plastic on the roof above the rear screen needs re-furbing, I know it looks like carbon fibre but it’s just plastic. This is an easy job although I was going to have the parts made out of real carbon fibre, which is a little more pricey, but would look great.
The wheels could do with a refurb there are some curb dings. I was going to get a set of the original wheels and put those back on and sell the Wolfraces, I think the Sera should have the factory specific wheels…. but that’s just my taste.
One of the tyres has a slit in it that doesn’t affect it right now but it will need to be done before the next MOT. The Good Stuff
The interior is great, not blemish free, probably “A”, there are a few fabric pills on the passenger seat and a blemish on the driver’s seat. The carpets are excellent but could do with a shampoo. I have specially made footwell Sera badged carpet mats made from the original pattern in her at the moment.
The plastic fascia and dashboard is really good and all the knobs and buttons are perfect and have all the original (including the Japanese) decals on them.
The Bad Stuff
The boot cargo cover is missing, I’ve got my feelers out in the community for another one (preferably the one with the high line brake light on it) but will probably have sold her before that happens, they are available from Sera breakers, I recommend Cosmic Bandito, he knows everything about Seras and is breaking them regularly.
There are two bits of interior trim required, the first is cracked under the passenger side door handle the other is missing on the interior passenger side wing mirror mechanism.
The driver’s side door gas powered strut is fine but I’ve noticed that the passenger side one is not so strong, with this in mind I've ordered new gas struts for both doors that will be included in the vehicle sale. I have the V5 plus loads of books and adverts from the original sale of the car. I know nothing of the history other than the regular checks and to see when it was imported.
I do have an original Sera key and specialist key fob that will go with the car.
It was serviced in April 2022 and has an MOT until April 2023.
I bought the car from the previous owner who had had it wrapped for over 5 years which is why the body was so immaculate, all it needed was the wrapping removed and the new paint applied. Ok here are the problems with the engine, none of them are major but they add up to more than I can do right now, I don;t have the time or the inclination as I'm just far too busy elsewhere.
The engine runs and the car drives ok but I know there are issues so have not driven it for a while now while I gather the parts to fix it.
The cooling system is an issue. I had noticed some coolant on the floor of my garage and then the check engine light came on. I took it to my local garage who said the cooling system is compromised, it has had a new water pump but it is losing coolant through the radiator and ancillaries. It doesn’t overheat but still he knows what he’s talking about and I don’t.
With this in mind I've bought both a new radiator and a new overflow coolant bootle. They will come with the car.
I personally think there is a problem with the cylinder head gasket though, so to be safe I intended to change all the gaskets, again I've bought the kit and it it will come with the car.
The engine is the 1. 5L 5E-FHE I4 engine from a Toyota Starlet so all the bits are readily available online from ebay or indeed from Toyota in Japan.
I know nothing about engines so I’m happy to take the mechanic’s advice on this and have gone for a belt and braces approach, one of you may know more about this than me but I'm in the dark.
I had toyed with the idea of putting the starlet turbo charged engine in her as it is a perfect body, so someone who knows about these things may want to do that or just repair the cooling system on this one.
I bought her because of the immaculate body and fantastic interior, the engine doesn't bother me that much as it is standard Toyota engine that anyone can work on.
But I am just not able to complete the work no matter how much I'd like too, far better it goes to a good home now while the body is so great.
